Under Armour is making a pile of pricey devices into so many useless bricks.

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Any smart device comes with its own set of benefits and trade-offs, but there's one huge shoe waiting to drop with every single one of them: anything you connect can be disconnected at the other end, and there's absolutely nothing you the consumer can do about it. Today's example of smart stuff going dumb comes courtesy of Under Armour, which is effectively rendering its fitness hardware line very expensive paperweights.

The company quietly pulled its UA Record app from both Google Play and Apple's App Store on New Year's Eve. In an announcement dated sometime around January 8, Under Armour said that not only has the app been removed from all app stores, but the company is no longer providing customer support or bug fixes for the software, which will completely stop working as of March 31.

Under Armour launched its lineup of connected fitness devices in 2016. The trio of trackers included a wrist-worn activity monitor, a smart scale, and a chest-strap-style heart rate monitor. The scale and wristband retailed at $180 each, with the heart monitor going for $80. Shoppers could buy all three together in a $400 bundle called the UA HealthBox.

Ars' review at the time noted that none of the components, by itself, was revolutionary, but as a trio they talked to each other reasonably well. The linchpin of the whole operation was, instead, the software: the Under Armour Record app. Record tied all the data from all the hardware together into a comprehensive health, fitness, and wellness journal, allowing a user to see both high-level and granular data about their activity, weight, sleep, heart rate, and other metrics. Record also served as a one-stop shop for adjusting settings on any of the hardware.

In 2017, less than two years after launching the HealthBox line, the company gave up on the project. HealthBox, and the three products comprising it, gradually vanished from both literal and digital store shelves. "I think the market has evolved and we've evolved with it," Under Armour's chief tech officer said at the time. The company would instead go back to its roots as a clothing line and focus on actual wearables, such as connected running shoes, along with doubling down on the MyFitnessPal app, which it acquired in 2015.

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Consumers who had already spent hundreds of dollars on UA's wearable line, however, could continue using them—until now. The end of the road is nigh, it seems, and all three products are about to meet their doom as Under Armour kills off Record for good. Users are instead expected to switch to MapMyFitness, which Under Armour bills as "an even better tracking experience." The company also set the UA Record Twitter account to private, effectively taking it offline to anyone except the 133 accounts it follows.

Record, however, aggregated and presented more data to users than MapMyFitness does. Under Armour writes in its FAQ to its customers:

Is there any data from Record that is not available in MapMyFitness?

Yes—Steps, Sleep, Weight, How Do You Feel?, Resting Heart Rate, and Simple Nutrition data will not be available in MapMy. Additionally, body fat percentage goals and graphs and some of your UA Record profile fields will not transfer to MapMy.

Current device owners also can't export all their data. While workout data can be exported and transferred to some other tracking app, Record users cannot capture weight or other historical data to carry forward with them.

A reader tells Ars that Under Armour did not provide any notification of Record's demise to customers who were using the app, basically springing the sunset date on them as a silent surprise. (Update: After publication, an Under Armour representative told Ars all registered users were contacted by email on Dec. 20 or 21.)

The story of Under Armour's doomed scale is, unfortunately, something of an endemic side-effect to the Internet of things era. Not only can a company choose to pull support for a product that needs to phone home at any time, but also companies get acquired and go bankrupt all the time.

When this pattern plagues something small and inexpensive like a smart lightbulb, the disconnection is annoying but comparatively low-stakes. But when it's something like a $300 smart-home hub, or $1,200 worth of home security products, consumers who invested a fair amount of cash into something are suddenly up a creek.

a lot of people wonder why a tech guy doesn't get an alexa, or other connected devices.

it is because I don't want to roll my own server and i want to be able to use my devices withotu internet (as my cable line frequently drops with a err_name _resolution ) as while you shouldn't need DNS to connect out, my cable company keeps their internal switches connected via their own DNS server which frequently crashes.

even switching over to my own DNS server doesn't do me any good as their switches can't get out.

The lightbulb might be cheapish ($10-30), but if you install a dozen of them, your total investment in bulbs is more than the hub that controls them.

The real issue here is that there is a lack of disclosure - these things should come with a warning in large letters on the display cards and boxes - "This device will only work for 3 years" or whatever the commitment is.

People have sort of been conditioned to expect software upgrades on a yearly or every three year sort of cycle, and hardware the same. People do NOT expect this kind of thing with an appliance like a dishwasher, refrigerator or lightbulb.

People wonder why I like the Philips Hue system over other lighting systems. Hue uses it's bridge for communications, and never needs to talk to their servers unless you want out of home control of your lights.

Sure, it isn't perfect, but I prefer having an onsite box that does the smart home stuff, rather than an outside server. The light communicate via the Zigbee standard, and only the bridge has network access.

I don't like the whole "always connected to a server" thing, my coworker got screwed when all his stuff went offline because the company decided to pull the plug on all his smarthome stuff

It's a shame for those who thought there was enough value in this sort of thing to spend money on it. I never could figure why I would want my scale to talk to my fridge, and gossip about how much I was eating and the results.

Does the scale at least still work as a scale? "Expensive paperweight" seems to imply that it'll stop even giving you a readout, which would be absolutely ridiculous (yet not unheard of, in these INTERNET IN ALL THE THINGS times we live in).

People wonder why I like the Philips Hue system over other lighting systems. Hue uses it's bridge for communications, and never needs to talk to their servers unless you want out of home control of your lights.

Sure, it isn't perfect, but I prefer having an onsite box that does the smart home stuff, rather than an outside server. The light communicate via the Zigbee standard, and only the bridge has network access.

I don't like the whole "always connected to a server" thing, my coworker got screwed when all his stuff went offline because the company decided to pull the plug on all his smarthome stuff

Hue lights/hub also plays VERY well with Home Assistant, meaning you still have the option of not connecting to their servers of you want remote access.

And this is why unless I can connect to it directly without relying on someone elses servers, IOT devices like this are IDIOT devices and not worth spending the money on.

For the most part, I agree. However, for very-low-priced items, I will accept it, even if I don't like it -- for example, my two google chromecast's connected to my two tvs. As far as I'm concerned, these devices have provided excellent value for the money and when they stop working, I'll still have received enough value for the money that I'd buy replacement versions in a heartbeat.

On the one hand, yes, it'd disappointing that they are dropping support. OTOH, if they stopped selling it in 2017, they're supported it for at least two full years post end-of-sale, which is pretty decent by consumer tech standards. I can't see how any product that relies on a third-party service can be considered anything other than temporary. If you're paying and have a contract, that's one matter, but in the absence of that, it's going to depend on how profitable/important it is for the company.

Not having a data-export option is the more egregious failing in my opinion.

This is another example of why I try to rely on as few external systems as possible. I keep seeing things that would be nifty, but every company responds to my question of "will it work if your servers shut down" with the generic "no, but our servers are very stable!".

"I think the market has evolved and we've evolved with it," Under Armour's chief tech officer said at the time. The company would instead go back to its roots as a clothing line and focus on actual wearables, such as connected running shoes, along with doubling down on the MyFitnessPal app, which it acquired in 2015.

openHAB is a good solution if you want to smartify your house without relying on someone elses server. But that's a lot more work than most would be willing to put in,.

Absolutely, though you have to pick the right hardware to go along with it. A lot of smart home stuff will not work properly without a cloud connection, even if it will also work with openhab. I was an early backer of SmartThings, and when my founder's package of devices came out, I gave it away, because unlike the original hackable, extendable plan, it was dependent on what was (at the time) a cloud-based service. The short of it is that if you find the only way to automate something is by IFTTT, or a "cloud connector" component, then that hardware is a failure and not suitable for use.

Fortunately, there are some good options. Philips Hue's hub works without the cloud, homekit CAN work without the cloud (though apple is one of the only companies to get a cloud connection done well and securely), sonoff switches (and clones) work, and my personal favorite, insteon, can be completely isolated from the internet.

I have my problems with openHAB - their own dashboards are ugly, and some of their integration is SEVERELY brittle. I recently tried switching from my tried and true openHAB 1.8 + homebridge setup to HomeAssistant (which I ended up loathing after initially liking it a lot), and then openHAB 2.5 with native support for siri and alexa (via hue emulation), and finally, went back to 1.8 and added a homebridge module to provide alexa support, which works great. I will probably try 2.5 again, but I'll use homebridge to connect to it, and not the terrible built-in services.

Once you have openHAB working, homebridge can expose your devices, intranet side only, to siri and/or alexa. Homebridge is the SHIT.

On the one hand, yes, it'd disappointing that they are dropping support. OTOH, if they stopped selling it in 2017, they're supported it for at least two full years post end-of-sale, which is pretty decent by consumer tech standards. I can't see how any product that relies on a third-party service can be considered anything other than temporary. If you're paying and have a contract, that's one matter, but in the absence of that, it's going to depend on how profitable/important it is for the company.

Not having a data-export option is the more egregious failing in my opinion.

Wonder if any of these things made it over to Europe. This is the sort of thing GDPR was designed for, right?

This is another example of why I try to rely on as few external systems as possible. I keep seeing things that would be nifty, but every company responds to my question of "will it work if your servers shut down" with the generic "no, but our servers are very stable!".

Just another example of why I don't like the idea of stuff that only works with an app - which talks to somebody else's server, which requires working internet, which is always subject to random if not intentional interruption. The connection needs to be local, not through the internet, at some level, and a useful if not fully functional dumb mode is necessary. For instance, the TPLink "smart" plug somebody gave me at least has an on/off button so I can use it manually without setting up an app. If UA's scale has a display and still works as a scale, that's OK (though you'd be entitled to feel ripped off after paying a ridiculous price for the thing compared to an otherwise dumb scale); if it *only* works with the app, then yes, it's a brick.

"I think the market has evolved and we've evolved with it," Under Armour's chief tech officer said at the time. The company would instead go back to its roots as a clothing line and focus on actual wearables, such as connected running shoes, along with doubling down on the MyFitnessPal app, which it acquired in 2015.

People wonder why I like the Philips Hue system over other lighting systems. Hue uses it's bridge for communications, and never needs to talk to their servers unless you want out of home control of your lights.

Sure, it isn't perfect, but I prefer having an onsite box that does the smart home stuff, rather than an outside server. The light communicate via the Zigbee standard, and only the bridge has network access.

I don't like the whole "always connected to a server" thing, my coworker got screwed when all his stuff went offline because the company decided to pull the plug on all his smarthome stuff

Hue lights/hub also plays VERY well with Home Assistant, meaning you still have the option of not connecting to their servers of you want remote access.

Hue also has an API access, so in theory, if you were good with web design, you don't even need an app to control Hue!

openHAB is a good solution if you want to smartify your house without relying on someone elses server. But that's a lot more work than most would be willing to put in,.

Absolutely, though you have to pick the right hardware to go along with it. A lot of smart home stuff will not work properly without a cloud connection, even if it will also work with openhab. I was an early backer of SmartThings, and when my founder's package of devices came out, I gave it away, because unlike the original hackable, extendable plan, it was dependent on what was (at the time) a subscription service. The short of it is that if you find the only way to automate something is by IFTTT, or a "cloud connector" component, then that hardware is a failure and not suitable for use.

Fortunately, there are some good options. Philips Hue's hub works without the cloud, homekit CAN work without the cloud (though apple is one of the only companies to get a cloud connection done well and securely), sonoff switches (and clones) work, and my personal favorite, insteon, can be completely isolated from the internet.

I have my problems with openHAB - their own dashboards are ugly, and some of their integration is SEVERELY brittle. I recently tried switching from my tried and true openHAB 1.8 + homebridge setup to HomeAssistant (which I ended up loathing after initially liking it a lot), and then openHAB 2.5 with native support for siri and alexa (via hue emulation), and finally, went back to 1.8 and added a homebridge module to provide alexa support, which works great. I will probably try 2.5 again, but I'll use homebridge to connect to it, and not the terrible built-in services.

Once you have openHAB working, homebridge can expose your devices, intranet side only, to siri and/or alexa. Homebridge is the SHIT.

Yep.

One of my friends is using https://www.home-assistant.io which sounds interesting enough for me to want to play with...but even then I wouldn't trust primary important things (like main lighting) to "smart" stuff. We had some interesting times on the weekend when we somehow "broke" his smart bathroom lights and couldn't see to find the toilet XD

I do see it being potentially useful for secondary stuff.*Replace manual lamp timers with plugs that sync to NTP and can turn on/off with "sunrise/sunset" time instead of depending on me moving pins in and out thru the year*Replace "please remember to turn the radio on a timer back on if you turn it off" with "don't turn the outlet on unless all our phones are not home"*Run the air filters on a timer, but automatically shut them off if we're in the room on the weekend (either motion sense, or ping something with the TV/entertainment equipment for if it's in use)

Lots of stuff noncritical if it hickups but would help smooth out automation over basic timers.